


Rewind

by SkylaDoragono



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Alternate Universe, Attempted Murder, Character Death, M/M, Mind Screw, Murder, Mystery, Time Loop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-03
Updated: 2014-01-02
Packaged: 2018-01-07 06:29:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1116597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkylaDoragono/pseuds/SkylaDoragono
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He saved the day, he found the murderer and his friends were all safe… but somehow that just isn't enough.  Caught in a time loop, Yu is forced to relive his year in Inaba over and over again, knowing that he's missing something important.  When things change during one loop, however, he's driven extra hard to make things right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rewind

**PROLOGUE**

"We'll see you around!"

"No matter how far apart we are, we'll still be friends!"

They were chasing after the train he was on, just like they did every single time he reached the end of his journey.  He pressed his hand against the glass of the window, like he wanted to leap out and stay with them, but he knew that would not happen.  No, he had lived this moment again and again; innumerable times now, and it always ended the same way.

The train pulled away from the platform, and he saw his friends stop at the edge, waving enthusiastically.  He smiled faintly, going over to sit down in the empty train car, gazing out as the bright greenery of the spring morning passed on by.  A moment passed, before he slipped a hand into his pocket, pulling out his glasses and resting them on his lap.

Please… please let this have been the last time…

The train started toward the tunnel ahead, and he could feel his eyelids becoming heavy.  They fell closed just as the train darkened… and instead of tunnel lights, he felt the world around him turn blue.  The soft, plush interior of a limo drifted into his view, presided over by a lovely young woman and a man with an abnormally long nose.  He hoped that they were just going to congratulate him, but as the man began to speak, he could feel his heart sink once again.

"Ah… it seems we have a new guest.  Welcome, to the Velvet Room."

 

 

**CHAPTER ONE**

Yu Narukami would never forget how much he had thought Inaba was such a dead end, especially since every year, he had to repeat this same moment.

He stood on the train platform, staring out at the quiet, empty town.  Pretty soon, his uncle would walk up, commenting on how his picture did not do him justice.  Soon they would be driving off, stopping by the gas station before going to the place he had been calling home for the past… damn, he could not even remember how often he had repeated this same year.  He frowned to himself, trying to think of something that would give him a clue, and settled on the girls he had dated.  There was Yukiko and Rise at three each, Chie once, Naoto a _very awkward_ once, Yumi twice… had he gone out with Ebi?  He could not quite remember if he dated her or not…  Maybe he would try staying together with her this time, just to see if they could have a meaningful relationship or not.

"Um… Narukami Yu-kun… right?"

Yu felt himself freeze solid at the sudden voice breaking through his thoughts; the sudden, _familiar_ voice that was definitely not his uncle.  He was standing there, just where his uncle would be standing, a hand at the back of his messy mop of hair.  The same sheepish expression was on his face that he was so used to seeing when he was acting the part of the innocent cop, and that damn tie of his was _still crooked._

"Ah, I'm Adachi Tohru," the detective introduced himself.  "I'm your uncle's partner.  Sorry, but he's on a case right now; he sent me to pick you up."

_This is wrong._

So far, the many times Yu repeated his year in Inaba had all been the same.  His uncle had picked him up; his uncle was supposed to be here, not _Adachi._

Anything but Adachi…!

"Uh… you okay, kid?"

Yu shook himself back to the present, realizing he had been staring at Adachi like he half expected him to start murdering people in front of him.  He shook his head, murmuring a faint apology for his odd behavior, but the detective did not seem too bothered by it.

"I guess it was a long train ride, hunh?" he asked.  "It was a hell of a drive…"

Adachi paused a moment, making a face at that.  "Well, I'll get you to your uncle's place.  I'm sure he's been telling Nanako-chan all about you by now…"

Something about the way he said that, and how he remembered his uncle behaving before he showed up told Yu that was not actually the case.  Still, he ignored it, following the detective toward his battered old car.  He had actually never seen Adachi's personal vehicle before now – to be honest, he did not even know he actually had one – but it looked just as run down and beat up as he expected.  The door creaked when he opened it in a way that doors should never creak, and he actually had to struggle to get it to stay closed.  Adachi did not seem to notice as he slid into the driver's seat, starting the two of them on their way.

"So, you're from the city, hunh?" he asked as they came out onto the road.  Yu gave a faint nod at that, feeling insanely uncomfortable.  He could not be riding in this car… not now, not when he knew what kind of person Adachi was…  "Me too," the detective continued, not noticing his discomfort or not caring.  "I was transferred here at the start of the Spring.  It's… a bit hard to get used to the country life; not going to lie, but it's so quiet out here I'm waiting to be able to start hearing what other people are thinking."

Shame he could not start now, so Adachi could hear how much he wanted to get out of this car.  Yu tried at least pretend he was interested in what he had to say as he watched the gas station fly by outside of the window, but he could not muster the ability to.  All he was hearing was, "Hey, I'm going to murder someone tonight, and you're going to see me puking in the bushes tomorrow afternoon."

It felt like it was ages before they finally got to his uncle's house, and Adachi offered to help him with his carry-on bag before escorting him up to the door.  A bit of a grin worked its way onto his face, and he knocked out a tune on the door.  It slid open a moment later, and Yu half expected to see his uncle there ready and willing to deck Adachi for being stupid.  Instead, it was Nanako, and instead of her being shy like the first time he had seen the detective stop by the house, she was giving him a small smile.

"Hello, Adachi-san," she said softly, before looking past him to Yu.  She shrank back a bit at that, back to the shy girl he had first met… that he was _supposed to_ meet at the train station.  Adachi knelt down so he was closer to Nanako's height, giving her an encouraging smile.

"Hey, this is your big cousin, Yu-kun," he introduced him.  "He's going to be staying with you for a year, right?  You should give him a big welcome."

She seemed to relax a little at his words, looking back up at Yu. After a moment, she finally gave him a small smile.

"Welcome home," she managed to get out, her voice still soft and she still looked like she wanted to run back into the house and as far from him as possible.  Adachi grinned slightly, reaching over to give her shoulder a squeeze, before standing up and turning to Yu.

"I dunno if Dojima-san will be back tonight or not," he explained.  "I'll give you a call and let you know.  Oh, and I left some food from Junes in the fridge; you'll probably need to heat it up, okay?"

He gave him an encouraging look as well, before heading back to his car, leaving Yu to stare in numb shock.  Just… what just happened?  It looked like Adachi, talked like Adachi… but was that really Adachi?

"He always does," a small voice came from behind him.  Yu let out a faint noise, watching the detective drive off, before turning his attention back to Nanako.

"Does what?" he asked.

"He always calls," Nanako answered softly, before going back into the house.  Yu followed her in, and watched from the door as she settled down in front of the television, to the show she had been watching before he had arrived.

The night with Nanako was just as quiet and awkward as he remembered that first night being.  With his uncle having yet to make an appearance, Yu took it on himself to ready supper, locating the Junes boxes of food that Adachi promised and heating them up for the two of them.  Nanako had given him a curious look at how well he knew his way around the kitchen, but she had yet to speak up again, seeming much more withdrawn in this itineration than he remembered her being.  She did keep watching the phone between commercials, like she was expecting it to ring any minute, but it never did, and still had not when she went to go to bed.

Yu waited a little longer to see if his uncle would show up or the phone would ring, but an hour after Nanako went to bed he followed suit, his body feeling tired from the train ride.  He went into the room that was prepared for him, the boxes waiting for him to unpack as always, and he did manage a few before his attention was drawn away, to the small CRT television in the room.  Curious, he reached over to it, his fingers brushing the glass and…

…nothing.

Frowning, Yu pressed his palm against it, but the glass was cool to the touch and did not give as usual under his palm.  He kept trying, but it was no use, and he pulled his hand away, staring down at it like it betrayed him.

Just… how different were things going to be this time?

~.oOOo.~ 

If his uncle had come home that night, he had already left by the time Yu woke up for school.  Nanako was sitting on a chair, already nearly done with her toast, and managed to mumble a soft, "Hello," when he came downstairs.  He finished his own breakfast, and walked with her until she had to go off her own way to get to her school.  The same faces breezed by him, Yosuke went colliding with the street lamp as always, though he did not pay him much mind.  He helped him once, and Yosuke actually got irate at him, to the point where Yu retaliated by leaving him in the garbage can the next day.  They still became best friends, but he decided that leaving him to his own misery on the first day was the best thing to do.

Things were the same as usual, until he caught sight of a grey-haired girl near the gates to the high school.  She was walking along like everyone else, until she suddenly tripped, letting out a startled noise as she landed roughly on her knees.  Yu hurried over to her when she did not get up right away, placing a gentle hand on her back.

"Are you all right?" he asked, offering her a hand to get up.

She paused, brushing her curly hair out of her face and looking at him with surprised grey eyes.  "Oh… I'm fine, just tripped over a rock."

The girl grasped his hand, allowing him to pull her back up to her feet.  She still kept a hand on it, smiling warmly as she shook his hand.

"Thank you, for the help," she said, having yet to let go.  "You're new here, right?  Welcome."

"Thanks…" Yu replied, grateful when she finally let go of him.  She gave him a casual wave, before following the rest of the crowd into the school and leaving him staring at her back.  Hunh… he knew the people that went to Yasoinaba were pretty loopy, but he did not remember anyone that strange before…

After a moment, he shrugged, not overly worried about it, and he took a step forward toward the school.  No sooner did his foot fall, however, did a blinding and familiar pain shoot through him, and he wobbled unsteadily on his feet, a hand going to his head as it swam.  There it was… that same feeling he got every time at the start of his year in Inaba, but…

…that was supposed to happen yesterday, right?

Yu shook his head, trying to clear it, but he did not have a chance to dwell on it.  The bell was going to ring in a minute, and he was in no mood to find out how Morooka was going to react to his new student being late.

~.oOOo.~ 

The first day went as it always did; Morooka screamed at him for being impure, Chie saved him and introduced herself and Yukiko after class, before giving Yosuke a critical hit to the nads that was debatably deserved.  For a moment, he had forgotten about all the strangeness of the morning and the day before, and merely enjoyed the presence of the girls that would become his near and dear friends…

That was, until, they came upon the murder scene.

He could hear the house wives whispering about the body that had been taken down, and Yu came to a stop, knowing that Adachi was going to be barreling past him any second.  A good minute passed, and instead of the corrupt detective running by, his uncle finally made an appearance.  His expression was tired and drawn, like he hadn't slept for the past few days, and his face looked unnaturally pale.  His coat was slung over his shoulder as always, and he was raising a cigarette to his lips when he noticed the three of them standing there.

"Hey, what are you kids doing here?  Go home; this is a crime scene."

Yu couldn't help but stare; his uncle's voice sounded so hollow and unnatural… it did not even _sound_ like his uncle.  He stared, mouth poised to asked what was wrong, when Dojima flicked an irritable gaze toward him.

"Didn't you hear me?" he demanded.  "I said get out of here!"

He took a step back at his tone, at a complete loss.  It took him a moment to remember that his uncle had not even met him yet, but still…

As if summoned, Adachi appeared from the alleyway, looking rather pale and like he was going to start up heaving any second, but he was somehow managing to keep it together.  He looked up at Yu in surprise, before turning his attention to his partner.

"D-Dojima-san, take it easy on the kid," he protested.  "It's your nephew; things like this happen a lot in the city."

Dojima paused at that, shooting Adachi a glare, before glancing back at Yu.  He felt ice run up his spine at that look, and for a moment it almost hurt to breathe.  That was not his uncle… there was no way his uncle could ever look like that!  Finally, the older man turned away from him, but even still Yu's chest felt tight, like he would never be able to breathe properly again.

"…get home," he finally said.  "At least Nanako will have someone to look after her tonight."

Dojima barely gave him a second glance as he disappeared back into the alleyway.  Adachi followed him with his eyes, letting out a tired sigh after a moment.

"Sorry about that, Yu-kun," he said, trying to sound comforting.  "It's… well, something like this doesn't happen that often.  He's not always like… this?"

Adachi did not even sound like he believed himself, and he rubbed at the back of his neck sheepishly at the obvious lie.  He gave him a nod, also telling him that he should get going home, before running after Dojima.  Yu was left standing there in disbelief, even as Chie and Yukiko talked about going home instead of going to Junes like they planned.

What… just happened there…?


End file.
